Under his governance, Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), which had not been under actual imperial control for decades, submitted to imperial control, but he was killed by mutineers while later serving as military governor (jiedushi) of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei).
[5] Tian Xing presented maps and census rolls of the six prefectures of Weibo Circuit to Emperor Xianzong to show submission, and did not commission his own officials.
He further accepted the imperial government's commissions of 90 officials below him—including the deputy military governor Hu Zheng (胡證)—without objection, submitted taxes that Tian Ji'an had withheld to the imperial treasury, and rebuffed attempts by Tian Ji'an's allied circuits—Pinglu (平盧, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), Chengde, and Zhangyi (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan)—to bring him into the alliance.
[4] Emperor Xianzong also created him the Duke of Yi and gave him the honorary title of Yinqing Guanglu Daifu (銀青光祿大夫).
[4] As a result of Weibo's submission, the imperial forces stationed at Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo, Henan), which was stationed at Heyang, between Weibo and the eastern capital Luoyang to defend against Weibo, were moved to Ru Prefecture (汝州, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan) to instead defend against Zhangyi, whose military governor Wu Shaoyang had died earlier, and it was said that this movement pleased Tian Hongzheng greatly.
Tian Hongzheng requested permission to enter Chengde territory, and Emperor Xianzong authorized him to advance to Bei Prefecture (貝州, in modern Xingtai).
[4] It was also said that it was because of Tian's loyalty to the imperial government that the military governor of Pinglu, Li Shidao, did not dare to openly aid Zhangyi.
In the initial stages, Emperor Xianzong, at Pei's suggestion, had the Weibo forces remain at Weibo to rest themselves (and to prevent unnecessary expenditures, as once a circuit's troops left the circuit, the imperial treasury would be responsible for their expenditures) until winter 818, when under imperial orders Weibo forces under Tian Hongzheng crossed the Yellow River and approached Pinglu's capital prefecture Yun Prefecture, causing much alarm at Yun Prefecture.
He captured and executed Li Shidao and his sons, sent their heads to Tian, and submitted to the imperial government.
When Emperor Xianzong subsequently commissioned Liu to be the military governor of Yicheng Prefecture (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan) but feared that Liu would resist the commission and want to hold onto control of Pinglu, he had Tian take precautions by commanding forces from Weibo and several other circuits to move into Yun Prefecture.
Once Tian arrived at Yun Prefecture, he ended the harsh rule of Li Shidao and his predecessors.
It was at this point historians regarded the reestablishment of Tang's imperial power during Emperor Xianzong's reign reached its apex.
Tian offered to remain at Chang'an, but Emperor Xianzong declined and returned him to his post at Weibo.
However, the director of finances, Cui Ling (崔倰), a relative of the chancellor Cui Zhi, not understanding the scope of the situation, believed that Chengde soldiers had the responsibilities of protecting their governor and that Weibo soldiers should be returned to Weibo, and that approving Tian's request would create a bad precedent, and thus refused Tian's requests.